Looking for help

Hello people. I was wondering if anybody could help me out. I'm 15 and just started driving not too long ago so I'm trying to get a decent system going in my car. Right now I have a pioneer head unit and 2 Sony Xplod 3-way (i think anyway) 6x9's. I am not to satisfied with the speakers, so I am considering adding some subwoofers so that I have a better sound and a nice bump to go with. I want to know what I need for a good system and what to look for. Any other little suggestions would also be appreciated.

The absolute best suggestion I can offer for someone new to the car audio world is go and listen. Listen to cars, listen to store demos listen to whatever you can and decide what you like the sound of and decide what you want to spend. For someone new, a single 12 or a single 10 is usually sufficent and you can always add on latter. Just stick to name brand and nothing else. Its always a safe bet to look at brands like MTX, JL, Eclipse, Alpine, Kicker and Rockford. After you find a few options post em on here and we can give you a few opinions on what you picked.double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

My 2 cents is kind of different. Main concern when it's your first system DON'T SPEND ALOT OF MONEY ON BASS! There are some cheap(as in dollars) amps out there that give you a good rumble. When I started I bought a $300 900watt interfire 2ch. Didn't really put out 900watts ofcourse but it was loud. Now days you have Bazooka amps, Performance Technique and Interfire. Those are some cheap amps that made me say "whoa". Could be more out there. Subs are kind of different because unlike Amps I like to stick with brand names that Ravendarat posted up. But save money. Start with the entry level subs like Alpine Type E's, Kicker comps, MTX MX's, JL W-whatevers. Say No the Rockford Fosgoat, they suck. Most of the time you can't tell if it's a sucky amp Most of the time you can tell if it's a sucky sub if your spending more than $300-$400 on amp and subs you should save money to buy competition grade equip. if you plan on spending less than that on both amp and subs; listen to my advice. Because there is only LOUD and LOUDER. You don't have to spend lots of money to be loud. Tell the Snap-On guy I'm not here!

Since your 15 I assume your on a rather tight budget, like me (im 17). So ill give you a valuable piece of advice, ask your friends, see if they are selling anything, go to flea markets, pawn shops etc to look for a amp. I bought a power acoustik amp for $50, had it running my subs untill I bought a Memphis M250D at the same flea market for $35!! I dont usually see subs at those kinds of places, but i got 2 brand new Orion 12" subs and a boc for under $300 at local dealer. Which brings me to my next point, build up a good repertoire with a local dealer, that way you will have somewhere to go to compare and listen to differant equipment. Another good place to listen to systems is at a local cruise night or car show, talk to people whos systems seem similar to something you want. One more thing... dont be pulled in by huge watt output numbers, or fancy chrome and big magnets, and huge foam surrounds. Instead stick to name brands, they dont need fancy stuff like that to sell products, the sound speaks for itself.

OK here we go. First the shape of the sub matters, a square kicker sub has more cone area and hence moves more air so the 12 inch square kicker has more potential to move more air than another 12 inch sub with that same amount of excursion, however your sound quality is diminished by going this direction. I generally recomend the solo's only in the 8 inch size for under truck seats and what not, other wise I would stick to a round driver. Answer number 2. Wattage is bullsh*t unless its CEA2006 rated. This is where experience comes into play. If you are looking at all the same brand of equipment then you can use wattage as a guidline for matching subs to amps. For example if you buy a mtx sub that handles 300 watts rms then look at mtx amps that produce 300 watts rms, but if you look at say a pyrimid amp (which you should never look at anyways) but if you look at one of them then you will probally need one that says its 1400 watts to get the same type of output. When you have experience then you kinda know how everyone is rating their stuff and can make a rough guess as to what kinda power they are actually putting out. Question 3 This depends completly on the car, the sub and what kinda sound you want. Generally a sealed box is used for sq systems because the drivers will play a wide range of frequencies as well they are the easiest boxes to build. A ported box is generally will play deeper when constructed and tuned properly but they are harder to build. They generally make the sub require less power to operate but also decrease the total amount of power the sub can handle. They are also generally a louder design and a bigger box. Bandpass is used by people who dont care at all about sound quality and just want a box that looks cool. The sound like ass and have a very narrow range of frequency ranges that they play. On the upside the make sweet end tables. Question 4 This one also depends. If you have factory speakers right now then they are going to need to be upgraded to get reasonably good sound, however if they are in good working order right know you can get by using them and replace them in stages. Depending on the speaker you get will depend if you need to amp them. As a general rule of thumb you should always use an amp on speakers whenever possible because they do make the speakers sound much better then a deck does but sometimes money steps in here and people cannot afford to do it, and thats ok, just run them off the deck and add the speaker amp on to your upgrade list. Question 5 If you dont know what you are doing then get someone to do it for you who is a professional. The install can easily make or break your stereo and trusting a "buddy who knows how" is a pretty big risk that I see backfire far more than it pays off. Install is not nessasarily cheap but should be looked at as an invesment on you purchase. Proper install means everything so dont go cheap on this one. Last Question Ohms is the resistance that a speaker puts on the amp. The lower the impedence, or ohms, the more power the amp will produce but also means the amp will create more heat and more distortion. Also most amps cannot go below 2 ohms or else they will shut down, also if you go to high then they will not produce the nessasary power you need to run your system properly. Make sure you decide on what subs you want and what amp you want before you buy either and check to make sure you will be able to wire them up properly to give you desired results. I hope this has answered your questions to the extent you were looking for.double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer